4 - Tuesday, September 10, 2013
The Michigan Daily - michigandaily.com
4 - Tuesday, September 10, 2013 The Michigan Daily - michigandailycom
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A safe space for whom?
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MELANIE KRUVELIS
and ADRIENNE ROBERTS MATT SLOVIN
EDITORIAL PAGE EDITORS MANAGING EDITOR
ANDREW WEINER
EDITOR IN CHIEF
Unsigned editorials reflect the official position of the Daily's editorial board.
All other signed articles and illustrations represent solely the views of their authors.
F RO0M T HE D AILY
Sobering guidance
Intervention, not punishment, is key to helping addicted students
For new freshmen at the University, figuring out how to allo-
cate time between coursework, student organizations, night-
life and other activities can be a daunting task. A new policy
at the University of Idaho makes this juggling act even harder - now,
freshmen who are unable to achieve that balance and receive a GPA
of 1.0 or lower will be expelled. While this policy is part of a larger
initiative aimed at combating underage drinking, it's uniquely mis-
guided. The University of Idaho should find other options to deal
with underage drinking - options that support students academi-
cally and address the underlying problem, instead of just expelling
students for having an extremely low first-semester GPA.
For a lot of people, loving
Michigan is something
intuitive, like loving Nutella
crepes. What
could there
possibly be to
explain?
I do love
Michigan, but it
took me a long
way to get here,
and it's been a ZEINAB
thorny relation- KHALIL
ship. A part of
me just wants to
forget myself in chants amid a sea
of maize and blue, or lie on the Diag
forever and watch autumn transform
our campus into a pretty postcard.
But the other part of me can't
fully indulge this relationship
because of the many micro-aggres-
sions on this campus that are too
hard for me to ignore.
My memories of the past three
years - as much as I've grown from
them - include many painful real-
izations of how unfriendly this place
can be. They include times when a
hug was used to compensate for a
racist comment at a meeting and I
conceded because I was too tired
of being the only one in the room to
respond. They include times when
seeing campus police made me feel
less safe because of how conde-
scendingly they behaved with me in
the past. They include times when
racially coded words were used by a
professor I thought I could trust.
Of course, such micro-aggres-
sions aren't unique to our campus,
and there are the sunny moments
and the tough ones in any place. But
I wouldn't have been able to make
it past all these tough moments if it
weren't for the safe spaces I had to
turn to - places where I was wel-
come and didn't have to explain my
being or make disclaimers, speak in
a different tone or smile extra hard to
ease someone else's prejudice.
Places where I could be.
Safe spaces intentionally catered
to students of color - whether pro-
vided by a student organization, an
internal community forum or a Uni-
versity office - are crucial.
Unfortunately, those spaces are
often unappreciated or viewed
warily.
I experienced this sentiment as a
group of friends and I talked about
forming a women-of-color collective
on campus. Our conversation was
soon consumed with questions like:
'What about white feminists who
identify with our cause? How are we
going to include them?'
Similarly, I experienced this sen-
timent as I brainstormed a campus-
wide anti-racist campaignwith some
peers. 'How will we get white stu-
dents to care about diversity? Should
we try to sell some point, like that
to "sell" it to people who don't want
their conscience bothered.
If knowingthat your privilege and
the institutions around you elevate
you at the expense of holding back
others isn't "incentive" enough for
you to give a damn, excuse me if I
don't feel like expending my time and
energy convincing you to be a decent
human being.
Safe spaces are not intended tobe
classrooms and should not be viewed
as such - hence, they are not "miss-
ing the point" at all. There's a time
and place for white people to be
enlightened, have their conscious-
ness raised and discover their privi-
lege - this space isn't one of them.
they need to care To be clear, these
because they may internal safe spac-
end up in a diverse We cannot constantly es do not rule out
workforce that peopleo color inter-community
requires them toeXpeCt of dialogues, but may
know about race to to "educate" their actually serve as a
be more competi- . starting point for
tive candidates?' white peers. just that.
And, finally, I We cannot con-
constantly observe stantly expect peo-
this attitude by those who deem ple of color to "educate" their white
identity-specific groups obsolete peers. Besides exhausting them,
- the "color-blind" advocates who this burden reinforces a problematic
think organizations or spaces dedi- power dynamic where students of
cated specifically to marginalized color areexpectedtobe attheservice
identity groups are exclusionary or of their white counterparts.
"missingthe point" of diversity. Targeted individuals and com-
We ought to questiontwo assump- munities cannot grow in spaces
tions here. First, that white people where they are on the defensive,
should be part of safe spaces for peo- where they're compulsively and
ple of color, and without them, these constantly checking what they say
spaces are somehow lacking, and, and how it will be received or (mis)
second, that white people's comfort construed because of their race,
and interest should be a prioritized where they aren't healing, dreaming
focus of anti-racism/diversity work. and pushing forward.
These messages presume that Before rushing to say how offen-
exclusive spaces for people of color sive I sound or question howI would
are threatening in some way, or, at feel if a group of white students
least, deficient. decided to form their own space,
They are not. Safe spaces for know that on a campus where whites
people of color are inherently valu- make up 70 percent of the student
able. They need not be dictated by or population (higher than the national
include white voices to be valuable. average of 63 percent), most corners
Along the same lines, anti-racism of this campus are already spaces
and diversity work are inherently where they do not have to "manage"
valuable and need not focus on white their race.
students to be successful. Those who
take on this difficult work shouldn't - Zeinab Khalil can be
feel they have to go out of their way reached at zkha@umich.edu.
For better or worse, underage drinking hap-
pens on college campuses and is an important
issue when it comes to students' health and
safety. As such, universities should address
it through programs focusing on awareness
and counseling for students who are actu-
ally abusing alcohol. The University of Idaho
has taken steps in this direction other than
the expulsion policy, including the creation of
a required class for incoming freshmen that
addresses substance abuse, new guidelines for
fraternities and sororities for "alcohol-related
activities" and the hiring ofnew staff members
tasked with monitoring new policies - but that
isn't enough.
Investing in an academic intervention pro-
gram for students whose grades aren't up to
par would be beneficial, since transitioning to
college presents differing difficulties for every
student - even those who don't drink at all.
LSA's policy regarding student academic per-
formance states that the University can sus-
pend those students whose GPA is close to 0
or substantially below a 2.0 in their academic
major, r-quiring them to take-a semester off
before requesting readmission to the Univer-
sity. This gives struggling students time to deal
with whatever it is that's preventing them from
performingwell academically. It also putsthem
in contact with a member of the Academic Stan-
dards Board so they can discuss the student's
suspension and where to go from there. While
it's still unnecessarily harsh, this policy gives
students a break and shows that the Univer-
sity maintains its investment in those students'
futures - something the University of Idaho's
policy doesn't do.
If the administration at the University of
Idaho wants to curb underage drinking at its
school, it might want to take a look at some of
the innovative policies other colleges and uni-
versities around the country have put in place.
Stanford University has what its students call
an "open-door" policy, where students drink-
ing in their rooms in residence halls who leave
their doors open don't have to fear an inter-
vention from police just because there may
be underage drinking going on. This forces
drinking into a more public atmosphere; such
a policy could encourage both less drinking
and increased safety of those who do drink.
Bentley University has an initiative called
OneLess, which educates students about
alcohol and encourages them to consume
one fewer alcoholic beverage whenever they
do choose to drink. After only one year, this
program has resulted in a student body that
drinks more moderately.
Underage drinking is a reality - but that
doesn't mean colleges and universities have
no power to affect it. Through programs that
distribute information about how to stay safe
while drinking and provide academic support,
students' college experiences can be improved.
In defense of! illenials
recentlyread an article about
a young man named Luke
Jordan who is attempting to
hike the entire
North Country
Trail in one
jaunt - a trek
of 4,600 miles
from North
Dakota to New
York. "Attempt,"
however, seems
far too skeptical
a word, as the
23-year-old has
EDITORIAL BOARD MEMBERS
Kaan Avdan, Sharik Bashir, Barry Belmont, Eli Cahan, Eric Fergu-
son, Jesse Klein, Melanie Kruvelis, Maura Levine, Patrick Maillet,
Aarica Marsh, Megan McDonald, Jasmine McNenny, Harsha
Nahata, Adrienne Roberts, Paul Sherman, Sarah Skaluba, Daniel
Wang, Derek Wolfe
JOHN KOSTER |
Love thy bathroom
KATE
LARAMIE
I could've written about Syria, about war:
carnivorous like fire, grinning like sin. I
could've written about my first trip into the
Big House, where a crowd becomes a body
in itself, its arms the cheerleaders, its legs
the football team, its face a yellow hue of
T-shirts. I could've written about my first
week of classes and my major and my profes-
sor and my classmates and my computer and
my folder and my backpack and how it makes
this annoying clanking noise as I walk. And I
could've written about all of the other cliche
and expected things a freshman might.
But Ididn't.
4612-T, Lewis House, Bursley Residence
Hall, the men's bathroom. In an attempt to
save energy, the lights only turn on as you
walk in. The darkness embodies abyss. Flo-
rescent lights throw a bright, white light
upon the objects around you. You squint. Still,
you are aware enough to see what lies around
you: eleven sinks, one soap dispenser with a
60-percent success rate and a hand dryer that
does not dry, but effectively creates a ruckus.
To your right are four urinals and four bath-
room stalls, the latter equipped with morose,
grey doors. Farther down the way are the
showers behind yet another door; water tem-
peratures range from Antarctic to scalding
hot and change intermittently. To your left
is a mirror purveying the sight of your sorry
existence - perhaps following a Thirsty
Thursday. Everything is dirty. On that note,
just beneath you is the floor: Faded gray inlets
outline faded grey tiles. Moist footprints
leading across the bathroom darken the grey
into a shade of black.
This is the bathroom you are to inhabit for
your freshman year.
So you settle. You pick your favorite bath-
room or shower stall and live with it. The best
sink is chosen - the one that isn't clogged
with ... well, let's not talk about that. Return-
ing to the same bathroom stall or shower, you
retrace your steps. A schedule has been made.
The toothpaste and mouthwash assorted,
mirrors are gazed into unnecessarily, for the
looker already knows what his reflection will
tell. And time and time again, history will
repeat itself; weather variable, the bathroom
will remain a control in the experiment.
Until it doesn't.
In the coming years, you may forget it (or
try to). It may not dawn upon you that you've
left it behind - the routines and memories,
the friends and associates, the people, the
Michiganders. Your graduation day will sure-
lyoverlook it, eveninthatintrospectivemood.
But it will dawn on you one day; and when that
immense notion dawns upon a once ignorant
mind, you'll be washing your hands with that
apricot and cinnamon-scented hand soap you
found for a great price in a Good Housekeep-
ing Magazine. You'll look around and notice
every piece of the bathroom is perfectly put
together: None of the paint is chipped, the
toilet glows white, the shampoo leaves not a
hint of soap scum, as advertised on that daz-
zling Dove commercial.
Confounded with boredom, you will sign
an empty wall, for imperfection breeds emo-
tion in a wonderfully hidden way, and fault-
lessness the opposite. Deformity is beloved
subconsciously not by humanity's natural
laziness, but by his sympathetic attachment
to objects around him, for he knows he is
lucky - no, blessed - as only he can have an
item flawed in such a particular way.
Enjoy the inhospitality while it lasts. It
won't.
John Koster is an Engineering frczhman.
already walked
more than 2,300 miles. Unless his
determination takes a sharp turn,
I'd bet almost anything thathe
pushes on to finish - an accomplish-
ment only achieved by three other
people prior to him.
The article, written by Howard
Meyerson and originally published
in the Grand Rapids Press, was
inspiring to read, as I have my own
aspirations of someday hiking part
of the same trail. However, I was a
little dismayed to find that, like most
accounts of20-something's spending
time in the great outdoors, the arti-
cle couldn't come to an end without
mentioning a few of the stereotypes
of the "Millennial Generation."
"Inanera when manyyoung adults
are glued to their computers and
social media," writes Meyerson, " ...
Luke Jordan is a refreshing change."
Yes, hiking the entire NCT sure is
refreshing - how many people wake
up in the morning and decide to put
on a 30-pound backpack and walk
four-and-half-thousand miles?
Yet, the idea that Strider's story is
inspiring not only because he's liter-
ally walking across the United States,
but also because he's a Millennial is a
little insulting.
At 20 years old, I'm a Millen-
nial myself and well aware of every-
thing my generation is supposed
to be about. We're selfish, entitled,
technology-obsessed children with
no interest in anything that doesn't of energy production run Out. The
concern our immediate well being. question hanging in the balance is
We have no idea what nature really whether we transition before we
is, and we have no interest in strik- completely bombard our atmosphere
ing out to discover it for ourselves, as with carbon dioxide or whether we
that would require leaving our com- transition after.
puters behind and not receiving a Either way, peak oil is coming.
text every five minutes. Since Strider We're tasked with protecting our
is a Millennial, his extremely inspir- natural resources as the world popu-
ing and noteworthy journey is even lation continues to skyrocket and weIs
more incredible - 20-somethings attempt to feed, water, clothe and
just don't do things like that. We're care for over seven-billion people.
just not into all that nature stuff. Who will protect our hardwood
I wouldn't beso sure. and tropical forests as they're
Yes, I may meet the criteria for cleared in a desperate attempt to
a stereotyped young adult: I have farm increasingly unproductive
an iPhone, a computer and a Face- land? We, the Millennials, will have
book account. Yet, at the same to. Who will protect our coastal
time, I, along with hundreds of cities as the ice-caps melt and
thousands of other flood Manhattan,
Millennials, have New Orleans and
more of a connec- ts ourgener ation Miami? Millenni-
tion to nature than t als will have to do
past generations that will either make, that, too.
may think. Why? or break the fig ht to I's ionic real-
Because we are the ly, that Millen-
ones growing up stabilize our planet. nials - with our
in - and facing the touchscreens and
reality of - a world smartphones and
that's changing. entitled attitudes
Sea levels are rising at catastroph- - are touted as the generation most
ic rates, and extreme weather pat- disconnected from reality. If you
terns are leading to intense heat and ask me, it was our grandparents'
unseasonal cold weather in places all generation that was out of touch
around the world. The natural pro- when they solidified fossil fuels as
cesses of our world are being driven the basis of our entire economy at
to the extremes as our atmosphere the peak of industrialization. It's
changes and our temperatures rise, our parents' generation that's miss-
leading to excess wildfires, droughts, ing the big picture as they continue
flooding, snow, torrential rain, hurri- stripping our natural resources,
canes and tornadoes. undermining the delicate ecologi-
And it's the Millennial Genera- cal balance of the world in search
tion that will either make, or break, of more fuel to feed the economy's
the fight to stabilize our planet. growing appetite.
We are the future. We, along with Even from behind our computer
our children, are the ones who will screens and from within our social
suffer from the oncoming peak oil networking circles, we can see that
crisis - when our oil production it's us, the Millennials, who will
reaches its maximum rate - and have to deal with the fallout of past
the depletion of fossil fuels around generations' short-sighted planning.
the world. We'll have to find a way
to transition to renewable sources - Kate Laramie can be reached
of energy as our mainstream modes at laramiek@umich.edu
ARE YOU BORED?
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